1 part Complete It started with hustling pool.
He needed some sort of income. Living off the streets at twelve years old isn't easy in any respect, but it helps to have money.
Then came the pickpocketing.
It's amazing how much cash someone carries in their wallet at a time. Just a brief bump and he can easily slip a hand in a pocket. He'd have to use the credit cards quickly. He could match a signature well enough that a machine wouldn't care. It would only be a matter of time until the card was canceled, but he'd have it long enough to buy a new pair of shoes or a jacket in the winter. And the cash, he'd save that for a rainy day.
Then came the shoplifting.
He finds its easier to steal directly from the source. Hiding a twenty dollar shirt in a hoodie pocket was easier than finding the twenty dollars themselves, and showing up at the grocery store right when it opens and shoving an apple down his throat when no one was looking isn't as complicated as it sounds.
It was never supposed to get violent. He was just trying to keep himself alive. He didn't expect them to be home. But then he made a game of it, and he never truly realized how high the stakes were - not until there were weapons involved.
He did what he had to do. He snatched the knife, and what happened to the man, he'll never know. It was a nasty wound, though. If he did somehow survive it, he'll almost certainly never walk again.
That day changed everything. It opened up a world of possibilities. He's been breaking the law for months, but it never occurred to him that he could just outright ignore it. He'll do what he has to do, and he'll do what he wants to do, and no law is going to stop him.
And that's how this seventeen-year-old Gabriel Adams became the FBI's most wanted serial killer.
